Three Coins in the Fountain: Roman Pasta (Cacio e Pepe) Recipe 🥁🥁🥁🥁

Year Released: 1954
Directed by: Jean Negulesco
Starring: Louis Jourdan, Maggie McNamara, Rossano Brazzi, Jean Peters, Clifton Webb, Dorothy McGuire
(102 min.)
Genre: Romantic Comedy, Drama

“Three coins in a fountain
Each one seeking happiness
Thrown by three hopeful lovers
Which one will the fountain bless?“ –Sammy Cahn, sung by Frank Sinatra

Forget the dark adventures that dance across our current screens and return to a place of light, air, and happiness. Beautiful Italy, three tug-at-your-heart romances, and a classic Oscar winning song sung by none other than an uncredited Frank Sinatra. You could not hope for breezier way to usher in soon to be summer.

My mother took me to see this film when I was only 7, and I fell in love. Not only with Italy (Rome and Venice are featured here), but with Louis Jourdan, a Frenchman who played the charming yet womanizing Italian Prince. He must have been getting ready for a similar role in Gigi 4 years later. (Here real life does not reflect film life. Jourdan was happily married to the same woman for 60 years until her death just one year before his at age 93.)

In this entertaining 1954 nominee for the Best Picture Oscar®, three American women in romantic Italy (Dorothy McGuire, Jean Peters and Maggie McNamara) decide it's time to end their single status. So they whimsically toss coins into Rome's spectacular Trevi Fountain for luck in love. But none has the kind of luck she hopes for in this fun romp that also stars Rossano Brazzi , Clifton Webb, and Louis Jourdan.

But first you will have to put aside any current notions of love and marriage, or in our day, the lack of the latter. These three secretaries are all looking for love, even if at least two of them will hardly admit such to their newly arrived roommate, Maria (Maggie McNamara). Anita (Jean Peters) is so loath to admit it that she feigns an impending marriage back in the states, believing her chances of marriage are better back home. She, of course, completely ignores her real feelings for Georgio (Rossano Brazzi, a trained attorney in real life before becoming an actor), the Italian translator and aspiring lawyer who seems to share them. According to Anita, the wealthy Italians are not interested in mere secretaries and the Italians who are interested are too poor. So her subterfuge is of course a bit calculating.

But it’s outdone by the seemingly innocent Maria once she sets her eyes on Prince Dino de Cessi (Louis Jourdan), despite warnings about him from the more worldly Miss Frances (Dorothy McGuire). Especially not to become a “Venice Girl,” the term for those unlucky ladies the prince takes there for his many trysts.

Maria accepts the Venice invitation, but artfully avoids the “Venice Girl” entrapment, much to the disappointment of the smitten Prince.

Then she methodically schemes to entrap him in her own web of deceit, learning about which art he likes, his favorite food, wine, and even pretending to take up the piccolo, his favorite instrument. It is none too subtle, but he falls for it head over heels, probably some good karma given his life of charming deceit.

Then there is perhaps the most heartfelt love match. Miss Frances is in love with her boss, John Fredrick Shadwell (Clifton Webb) an expatriate writer who has employed her for the past 15 years, completely unaware of her feelings. He is sharp and cynical, never ushering in fools gladly. Miss Frances seems reconciled to the crumbs of their relationship until she gets the ultimate present labeling her an old maid. Not from Shadwell, who would never do anything so personal as to give her a gift, but from his maid who takes pity on her, gifting her with a kitten for company, just like her sister who is also a maiden lady.

Suspend your disbelief as all three developing romances spin out of control in dramatic breakups, until finally all pretense drops. Especially for Miss Frances, who challenges her boss to a drinking contest, the pristine secretary ending up very wet and drunk in a nearby fountain.

It’s every cliched country song come to life, Italian style, but if you have the least romantic bone in your body, you will love it. Any saccharine bits are negated by Clifton Webb’s acerbic tongue, and the beauty of Rome casts a spell on the actors and audience alike.

How refreshing in this day and age! Travel back in time, and don’t merely throw three coins in the fountain. Wade right in and dunk yourself into the water as well. You won’t regret it one bit.

–Kathy Borich
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Trailer

Filom-Loving Foodie

One of the highlights of this romantic film is the trip to Georgio’s family farm, with his reluctant co-worker Anita. As a secretary she is forbidden to fraternize with the Italian employees, Georgio being the translator with whom she works. Her new roommate Maria notices the sly looks they share and persuades Anita to break the rule just this once, especially since Anita is about to return to the United States.

And what a family festival it is, getting there in a broken-down truck that only has its overloaded passengers’ feet as brakes, and their voices to act as horns. Somehow they make it to the farm alive for a feast on the hills outside of Rome. Music and great food – not the fancy food from Rome –

–but the simpler rustic food from Georgio’s family. It seems to have some magic in it, too.

Different Drummer has chosen such a dish, the first part of the “Holy Roman Pasta Trinity” (Cacio e Pepe, Amatriciana, and Carbonara. It is deliciously simple and simply delicious:

We love this Cacio e Pepe Recipe because it requires only 4 ingredients! It's also really quick to make which makes this perfect for weeknight dinners. This dish is truly indulgent and packs a ton of flavor. –Teri and Jenny